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Monday, April 27, 2015

Bard on the Blogs || Travel the Bard Way

In case you missed it, I'm teaming up with Alyssa of Books Take You Places for Bard in the Blogs! Alyssa and I share a mutual love for William Shakespeare and his work, so we decided it would be an excellent idea to celebrate with a little blog event. I'm so thrilled to have so many wonderful people guest posting on both my blog and Alyssa's blog, so a big thank you goes out to those who volunteered to share with us! Today's post is from one of my best friends that I met through blogging, Kelly of Belle of the Literati. She's combining two of my favorite things - travel (and in Europe!) and Shakespeare.

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When Alexa asked me to be a part of her Shakespeare post, I was ecstatic! It will come as no surprise to anybody that knows me that the tragedies of Shakespeare call to me. The angst, the impossible situations, the heart-breaking moments where the fates have a different destiny than what you’re hoping for. Cliche or not, my two favorite Shakespeare plays are Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar. This has played a huge part in my travel experiences and because of that, my post for Alexa will be a mini travel guide to Shakespeare fans of my two favorite plays!

Romeo and Juliet

I *finally* had the opportunity to stop in Verona while I was in Italy in 2013 and to say I was excited was an understatement. Not only is this the traffic of our stage (see what I did there?), it pays homage to our Juliet with Juliet’s Balcony. If you’ve read R&J or have seen Letters to Juliet, you know what I’m talking about.

While every fan worth their salt understands that Juliet’s Balcony is a tourism trap and a man-made monument, it is still a must-see representation of our fairest star (sorry, again, couldn’t help it). AND you can write a letter to her! The walls around the balcony are packed with letters to Juliet. I, myself, did write her a very heartfelt letter when I was there…and I’ll have you know it worked. *wink*

Julius Caesar

Now, there’s a common misconception with the play Julius Caesar and the historical accuracy of where Caesar was actually stabbed. And as much as I love history I’m going to ignore the liberties Shakespeare took with location and focus on the play. The Roman Forum in Rome, right next to the Colosseum, is a necessary stop in your Shakespeare travels. It is a huge in-ground space of land with ruins all over the place and you can pick any spot you want to reenact his stabbing…as you can see below…I did. I got some weird looks but seriously, how dare they stare at me! Et tu, Brute?!

**Okay I couldn’t leave history ENTIRELY out so here’s a picture where Julius Caesar was actually stabbed, where the Theater of Pompeii once stood**

Shakespeare

And if you’re going to be traveling Europe in search of important Shakespeare landmarks, none other are more important than The Globe theater in London. No joke, it is near impossible to find for some reason. Maybe it was just me but the maps don’t clearly lay out where it is in relation to major roads. Keep this in mind if you get frustrated. While the original Globe theater where all the magic happened burned down in 1613, it was rebuilt the next year but closed the year after that. Today, there is a replica built a few hundred yards from where the original once stood. There is a small museum you can walk through and they perform plays there today. When I was there they rotated plays as well as what language they were spoken in as a way to celebrate not only Shakespeare but other ethnicities and cultures as well, which I think is beautiful.

Thanks for having me, Alexa! I loved traveling back to Shakespeare time via your event!

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Thanks for sharing, Kel! I always love hearing about the places you've traveled to, and it's super special that you were able to share two famous spots related to Shakespeare. I hope I get to visit them myself one day (particularly that balcony)!

As previously mentioned, Alyssa & I also teamed up for a giveaway. We're going to be picking TWO WINNERS to pick the SHAKESPEARE RETELLING of their choice. Best part? It's open INTERNATIONALLY (as long as Book Depository ships to your country). For an idea of what retellings you can pick, here's a handy list. You can enter via the Rafflecopter form below.

Great post! It's awesome seeing places that inspired Shakespeare or were inspired by his writing. I have one question, I've heard of people leaving letters for Juliet, but what are the locks on the wall for?

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Hi, I'm Alexa! 29 years old, married to the love of my life, resident of New York. Extremely passionate about books, adventures and the importance of dessert. Hope you stick around a while and enjoy a blog post or two! (PS - Here are my review & blog policies.)